Saturday, November 29, 2008

Cars

Anybody that you know looking to sell a car? Honda or Nissan small car that gets great gas mileage...... Let me know my husband is looking to purchase one and I would rather buy from someone I know.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Easy As Pie, Cake or Whatever...

I loved Laurie's cake post! I'm hard to please if a dessert does not have chocolate in it and although I love fresh fruit I've never loved fruit dessert, until I found the following recipes. I wanted to add two of my favorites that I use every year around Thanksgiving & Christmas...

This cake is my FAVE simply because it's SOOO simple, and SOOO good...

PUMPKIN DUMP CAKE
1 (29oz.) can EASY pumpkin pie mix
1 box dry white cake mix
3/4 cup butter (melted)

Pour pumpkin pie mix into a greased 9x13 cake pan and sprinkle dry cake mix evenly over top. Then pour melted butter evenly over top. Bake for 1 hour @ 350 degrees. Serve with cool whip or vanilla ice cream. YUM!

This takes a bit more prep, but it's SOOO worth it...

FRESH PEAR CAKE
6 pears ( bosc or bartlett ) peeled and sliced
1 cup of flour
1 cup sugar
2 cups butter (softened) Yes! 2 cups!
1 T baking powder
5 eggs
1 T water
pinch of cinnamon
pinch of salt
powdered sugar for dusting

pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. place sliced pears in a 9x13 baking dish (buttered & floured)
*for 1/2 recipe use pie plate
beat well flour, sugar, baking powdered, eggs, water, cinnamon & salt. beat in butter. pour mixture over pears.
Bake 40mins. until pears are soft & top is golden. Remove & sprinkle with sugar.
We like to eat this with ice cream as well! YUM!

Thanks to Julie for her Apple Crisp recipe! SOOO YUM! It's going to be a new family favorite!
No chocolate to be found! It's a miracle! Maybe I love them because of all the BUTTER!?!

good reading


I really enjoyed this book. It is a short book, but filled with awesome stories/quotes from Hilary Weeks. I love her music - now I love her book!

bake a cake!

this is something i already posted on my blog...with holiday baking coming along it might be helpful when you're looking for that perfect holiday dessert.


now if i could only decide which one....

A Cake That's Fit For A Queen
Amaretto Italian Sour Cream Cake Amazing Tropical Fruit Cake
Apple and Nut Cake Apple Cake Apple Cake
Apple Sauce Cake Appesauce Fruitcake Apricot Nectar Pound Cake
Baby Cheescakes Baby Cheesecakes Banana Cake Barron Family Cheesecake
Baumtorte (Tree Cake) Becky's Pumpkin Cupcakes Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake
Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake Broken Angel Cake With Chocolate Chips Candied Fruit Cake
Carmel Coffee Cake Carrot Cake with Hot Glaze Carrot-Pineapple Cake
Cherry Cake Cherry Cake Sauce Cherry Cheesecake Cups
Cherry-Pineapple Dump Cake Chocolate Angel Food Chocolate Browny Cake
Chocolate Chip Muffins Chocolate Cookie Sheet Cake Chocolat e Éclair Cake
Chocolate Ice Box Dessert Chocolate Logs Chocolate Lovers Heaven Triple Threat Chocolate Di
Chocolate Sheet Cake Chocolate welington fudge pudding Chocolate, Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cake
Christmas Cake Christmas choclate cake Christmas Mixed Glace Fruit Loaf
Christmas-Comes-But-Once-A-Year-Chocolate Cake Cinnamon Morning Delight Coca-Cola Cake
Cream Cheese Pound Cake Cream Puff Cake Creamy Chocolate Cupcakes
Creamy Chocolate Layered Cake Decadent Chocolate Cake Decadent Fudge Cake
Deluxe Chocolate Marshmallow Bars Dream Cake Dreamcicle Cake
Drizzle Cake Earthquake Cake Easy Cocoa Snack Cake
Easy Coconut Cake Éclair Cake Edie Ching's Cherry Cheesecake
Eggnog Cake Extra Moist Coconut Cakes Festive Pumpkin Gingerbread
Flower Garden Cake Fruit Cake Fruit Cocktail Cake
German Chocolate Upside-Down Cake Golden Bacardi Rum Cake Gooey Butter Cake
Gum drop cake Heavenly Pecan Cake Hedge Hog Cake
Holiday Cake Holiday Poke Cake Holiday Rum Cake
Honey Bun Cake Honey Cake Hot Fudge Pudding Cake
Hummingbird Cake Ice-Cream Chocolate Roll Jewish Apple Cake
Johnny Appleseed Cake Lemon Cake Lemon Poppyseed Cakes
Lemon Pound Cake Linda's Yule Log Mama's Homemade Banana Cake
Mandy's Cake Microwave Scottish Pudding Mini Fruitcakes
Miniature Cheesecakes Mississippi Fudge Cake Mississippi Mud
Mock Lemon Meringue Cake Neiman Marcus Cake No Bake Fruit Cake
Norwegian Gold Cake Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake Old Fashion Pound Cake
Old Fashioned Light Fruitcake Orange Date-Nut Cake Orange Slice Cake
Oreo Cheesecake Peanut-Topped Devil's Food Pecan Icing
Pennsylvania Dutch Pastry Pineapple Heaven Plum-Nut Cake
Pound Cake Pound Cake Pumpkin Cake Roll Pumpkin Cheesecake
Pumpkin log Pumpkin Nut Roll Pumpkin Pie Cake
Pumpkin Roll Queen's Cake Red Velvet Cake
Reese`s white cake Reese's Brownie Cupcakes Refrigerator Chocolate Cheesecake
Russian Tea Cakes Russian Teacakes Santa's Breakfast Cake
Self-Filled Cupcakes Shirley's Chocolate Sheet Cake Sour Cream Coffee Cake
Sour Cream Pound Cake Southern Apple Cake Swedish Nut Cake
Tiny Christmas Fruitcakes Toll House Carrot Cake Triple Chocolate Torte
Turtle Bars Turtle Cake Warcake
Watergate Cake White Christmas Loaf World War I Cake
World War II Cake

Monday, November 24, 2008

Flylady

I just had to share this website...
http://flylady.com/

I'm on and off the wagon with this site but I love the ideas and tips I've learned from Flylady! She's helped me in countless ways because I tend to do things 110% or not at all. At some point in my life I hope to learn that it is possible to start a project, take a break and come back to it later when I have the time again. Until then I have Flylady to remind me that I can do anything in 15 minutes. You should try it, set a timer for 15 minutes and see how much you can actually accomplish. I bet you'll surprise yourself!

Service FHE

I was blog hopping last week and came across this idea and love it! I think it would be fun to throw into the mix once a month and get out of the house for a fun FHE activity.
Basically the idea is to either plan 3 different ways to show service or just jump in the car and randomly do 3 different service acts. The three examples given on the post I read were gathering up the grocery carts in a parking lot, paying the bill for the car behind you in the drive through line and I can't remember the other one...
I'm sure if we put our heads together each family member could throw out some ideas on ways to serve random people each month. In the process we get to have great family experiences together and learn to serve others in everyday simple ways.

Recipes - Tortillas, Pizza Dough & Honey Wheat Bread

Here are some recipes I've been asked for recently that I use ALOT, in fact they are in my 3 month food storage supply because they are so easy to make.

Flour Tortillas
6 cups flour (you can mix it up if you'd like to try a little wheat)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup oil (I use canola)
2 cups warm milk

Mix flour, salt & baking powder in your mixer. Add oil then milk and continue mixing until a large sticky ball forms. At this point I put a golf sized ball on my hot tortilla press and flatten it out. If you don't have a press you can roll them out on a floured surface. You can either cook them up now or freeze them for later. I put them in stacks of about 10-12 and store them in ziplock freezer bags so we always have fresh tortillas on hand. They are similar to the uncooked tortillas you can buy at Costco (only much cheaper). When you need them just defrost them and cook in a dry skillet.
I recently did a salsa flavored batch and it was a hit with my family! I just decreased the milk a bit and pureed some salsa and added it to the mix.

Pizza Dough
3 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons salt
2 Tablespoons yeast
2 cups water
5 3/4 cups flour

Using a mixer with a dough hook combine olive oil, honey, salt, yeast & water. Add most of the flour, until it pulls away from bowl; you might use a little more or less. Mix for about 10 minutes. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes. Punch down and shape. Bake at 450 for 10 minutes or until golden brown. We use this dough and let everyone make their own pizza then make breadsticks with any leftovers.

Honey Wheat Bread
In mixer add:
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 Tablespoon salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons active dry yeast
3 Tablespoons ground flax seed
Mix, then add:
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup honey
Add 2 3/4 cups hot water and 2 cups white bread flour. Add whole wheat flour 1 cup at a time until it pulls away from sides and clears the edges of bowl. Knead in mixer 3-4 minutes more. Divide into 2 loaves (or shape into rolls) cover with hand towel and let rise in greased bread pans until it's a nice rounded loaf. Bake 28 minutes at 350.

Everyday Food Storage

Aren't these so cute! I'm totally making these with my kids...
She has a family home evening activity and lesson to go with them for this week.
Check out this site - there are all kinds of great food storage tips and helps as well.
http://everydayfoodstorage.net/

canned meat


I have canned a lot of meat and am willing to teach anyone that wants to learn how. It has a shelf life of 5-7 years and is great to have in your food storage - and actually gets used. It is easy to do. In the picture is chicken, pork, steak, & hamburger. I will send directions to anyone who wants them. email me at julieherrell@yahoo.com.

Saturday, November 22, 2008

Ideas for kids to earn money?

Does anyone have ideas for how they help their kids earn money? My 11-year old wants to earn money to buy Christmas gifts. Any ideas?

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Thanksgiving Scavenger Hunt

We are doing the cutest young women's activity tonight. It's going to be a Thanksgiving scavenger hunt.

1. First we decided what we would like to eat at our feast. (turkey, stuffing, potato's, veggies, rolls, apple pie and can't forget the drinks)

2. We came up with a fill in the blank questionnaire. This will help the girls find out whose houses they might find the dinner item at. (ex. The pilgrims were on the ______ to find the Turkey for the 1st Thanksgiving? Answer: The Hunt family) We did a total of 7 houses so we still have enough time to eat.

3. You can have family's in your ward donate the food item or the yw leaders can prepare it. We decided to prepare the food ourselves and drop it off at the homes ahead of time.

4. Then the girls will fill in the blanks and go to each house and pick up the designated food item.

5. After they are done with the scavenger hunt they will come back to my house to eat there Thanksgiving Feast..

6. It's going to be so much fun. Who doesn't like a food activity?

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Need A Cheap Date?

Not sure about you but we're trying to save a little money here and there where we can. It was Kenny's turn to plan date night this past Friday and he wouldn't tell me what he had planned. He did a good job and it was cheap ($3) so I thought I'd share. We drove to Chick Fil A and got cones (I'd actually prefer McDonald's cones but I was a good girl and bit my lip). Then we drove to the park, we were going to relax and watch the stars in the sky but it was a little too chilly without a blanket (if you choose to do this definitely bring a blanket). So instead he opened the sunroof of the car, we stayed toasty and just talked and talked until it was 10pm and the lights started shutting off in the park. That was our que to get home.
Another cheap date that's fun is to play tennis, so if anyone ever wants to play doubles...
I'd love to hear any other great ideas on cheap dates ;)

Monday, November 17, 2008

Gratitude Journal

A few months ago I found myself complaining to my Mother Dear about a lot of things that I seemed to take for granted. She had no problem putting me right back in place, which made me be humble, then challenged me to start a Gratitude Journal. I am to write down 5 things everyday that I am grateful for. She said that I will soon find it hard to think of 5 things, once I am humble enough because I will know what is most important.

I know that I have been doing this for a few months, but it really has seemed to help me spiritually stay grounded on what is really important in life. I love my Gratitude Journal. I love that I can express what I am grateful for that day. I love that when my children grow up and are going through my things one day (hopefully a long time from now) that they will see that I was humble, that I was grateful for Many things, and that I journaled.

I challeng you to start a Gratitude Journal, if you haven't already have, and try hard to keep up with writing what you are most grateful for that day. They most certainly don't have to be in order, mine aren't. I date my entries everyday and mine look something like this:

11/17/08-
1.) Family
2.) Manners
3.) Education
4.) The Gospel
5.) my calling

This is what I am grateful for today. Last Sunday, was fast Sunday and I was late for Church. I did hear a few members give their testimonies about what is really important in this life. That cars, clothing, trendy items, and home decor weren't the important things in life. He (let's call him BOB) said that we don't take any of those things to the Celestial Kingdom with us, but we do take our knowledge. We take our knowledge of education, the scriptures, the teachings we learned over the years in church. Hearing this really hit home for me. I feel that I look differently about life (maybe it's because I am somewhat maturing too) and my daily routine. I now can't wait to read my scriptures, say my prayers, and last but not least is write in my gratitude journal. :) I have found it a little challenging to find 5 things that I am most grateful for (and not repeating the same things everyday) but days like today, it was not hard for me to do so.

I know with Thanksgiving coming up, this should not be hard to do. I feel that November is the month to be thankful for everything. I truly love this holiday and it is my absolute favorite holiday of the year. I love to feel humble and I love to really ponder on what is most important in life.

Quote by David O. McCay



This quote was in our ward program awhile back. I loved it so much I came home and made this to put on my fridge. It has helped me to think quite often about the mood of our home and if Christ would really be pleased to stay and visit with us. Wouldn't that be so cool?!

Saturday, November 15, 2008

great website for church ideas

A really fun website to go to is sugardoodle.net. It has tons of ideas and has been great for my Enrichment & primary callings.

Friday, November 14, 2008

Condiment Graveyard?


I just got this in an email from savingdinner.com and thought it was good information to share, every now and then we need to go through our fridge and dejunk...
Old Condiment Syndrome
Ladies, are you suffering from OCS? Old Condiment Syndrome? You know what I’m talking about. Crusty ketchup bottles, icky, old Ranch dressing and ancient mustard?
We all have a lot of condiments, don’t we? Listen, I know what you have lurking in your refrigerator doors. Fossilized condiments! And more than a busy hotdog stand in New York City needs, too!
Did you know the refrigerated shelf life for mayonnaise is two months? It is! So guess what? Today is the day you get to toss that stuff and get a new one. Listen, if you don’t use it often enough, buy a smaller jar. Even though it costs more money, it really is the cheaper way to go. You don’t need nasty old mayo with a thick crust on it in your fridge!
Here are some more items you probably have languishing in the doors of your fridge or way in the back:


  1. Mustard. Not just the yellow kind, but Dijon, honey mustard, brown mustard and that teeny, tiny jar of gourmet mustard from the gift basket you received over the holidays with the funky taste. No one likes it, but instead of throwing it out, you put it in the fridge. Why? Toss it! Shelf life: 6-8 months in the fridge; 2 years unopened in a pantry.

  2. Jams and Jellies. Yesterday, I pulled out a raspberry jam that had a “best used by” date of 4/5/05. YIKES! I bet you have some of those too! Time to chuck them as well! Shelf life: 1 year in the fridge; 1 year unopened in the pantry.

  3. Salad Dressings. A lot of commercial salad dressings have enough preservatives in them to embalm you. However, nothing lasts forever. If they’ve been opened for more than 3 months in the fridge, they’ve gotta go too. Unopened, they’ll last a year in your pantry.

  4. Pickles. I think I’ve had the same jar of pickles in my fridge since I’ve had the raspberry jam. The issue for pickles is they don’t last as long as jam in the fridge! Only 1-2 months opened and in the fridge. For the pantry shelf? One year unopened.

  5. Ketchup. I don’t even want to know how old my ketchup is. Let’s just say probably from the same era as the pickles and the raspberry jam. Truth is, it’s only good for about 2 months in the fridge. Unopened and on the pantry shelf, it can last a year before it needs tossing.

  6. Salsa and Hot Sauce. Guess what? Once your hot sauce or salsa is opened, it’s good for just a month in the fridge! Don’t wait for it to mold; throw it OUT! Unopened, it’s good for a year on your pantry shelf.

  7. Olives. Oh yes, I confess. My olives are refrigerator pals with the jam, ketchup and pickles! Out they go today…they only last a month opened in the fridge. They’ll last a year unopened in your pantry though!

Scripture


2 Timothy 1:7
For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.
I have had to remind myself of this scripture many times in the past few months. It gives me comfort in these latter days.

Thanksgiving Scripture


Doctorine and Covenants 98:1

Verily I say unto you my friends, Fear not, let your hearts
be comforted; yea, rejoice evermore, and in everything give thanks.

Pima Canyon Hike



http://phoenix.gov/parks/hiksogud.html

Carrie Martinez shared the Pima Canyon hike location with me, we took our activity days girls on it. I've also taken my family on it. It's a really nice wide trail that any age can do without trouble. It makes for a GREAT Family Morning Outing and maybe even a Saturday afternoon now that it's cooling off :D

To get to the Pima Canyon location:
From I10 & Elliot go West on Elliot to 48th Street, go North until you pass La Miranda Way, take the next left which is actually a continuation of 48th, turn left into the trail area, there is a guard station box there but no one man's it. The parking is free :D

Food Storage - Canned Apple Pie Filling


4 Cups sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 Cup cornstarch, 3 Tablespoons cinnamon (less if you like), 1 Tablespoon Nutmeg (less if you like), 10 Cups water.
Add all together, cook well over medium heat while stirring. Cook till it becomes clear and thick. Add 3 Tablespoons of lemon juice. I have apples already sliced and in the jars(about 60 med. size). Ladle syrup into jars leaving 1/2 inch head space. Water bath for 20 minutes. Needs one inch of water over the jars. Remove and let cool on counter.
Makes great Apple Crisp -
1 Cup flour, 1 Cup oats, 1 Cup brown sugar & 1 Cup butter
Take a bowl and mix dry ingredients, stir in softened butter. Evenly spread over Apple Pie Filling recipe in 9 X 13 pan (sprayed with Pam) and cover with Apple Crisp topping. Cook for 45 minutes at 350. When it turns golden brown it is done. Let it cool for awhile then you can serve it with yummy ice cream. What a treat to have in our food storage.

Weekly Menu Form

https://sites.google.com/site/allisonbrittonfiles/Home
Click this link, then click the attachment Blank MealPlan (this is my first time using google sites so please let me know if this doesn't work and I'll figure something else out). It's an excel file, I think I got it from the Microsoft database, I don't really remember.
It's very plain, but I've been using it for ages and it helps me stay organized with my grocery shopping and what I'm gonna make for meals in the coming week. If I know what I'm going to make and have the food at home the chances of me actually making the meals instead of hitting the drive thru are much better. Certainly not 100% or even 90%, because I still have weeks where it seems like I planned it out but end up picking up dinner the whole week, but that's life and I accept it. I usually put two or three desserts on the list, one for Sunday, one for Monday (FHE) and one for another week night.
It's helpful if you glance at your calendar while planning your dinners. For example on a night when there's a lot going on, I'll plan a crockpot dinner. I LOVE my crockpot!!!
You can stop reading at this point...
I'm compulsive and have to push it to the next step so I actually have about 8 of these that are marked "regular" menus and 4 that are marked "food storage" menus. I try to rotate the food storage ones in here and there so I'm rotating those food items out of my pantry/freezer. The idea is to have enough food on hand to make the food storage menus three times which would take care of my three months storage. Sometimes I keep that up and sometimes I don't, I try not to beat myself up when I fall behind...

Peanut Butter Chocolate Dipped Bananas


For after school snacks Mon.-Thurs. I only let the kids have "good for you" stuff so Fridays they get a "sweet" treat (usually something with chocolate). I tried something new today, Kierstin and I were in the grocery store last night and saw a package for a chocolate dipped banana that looked yummy. I made them this morning, it took me about 5-10 min. and the kids will be super excited when they get home (plus they'll get some fruit too-so sneaky).
I used the almond bark they have at Wal-Mart, it's like $1 or something? I melted it then added a bunch of peanut butter, stirred that up. Then dipped cut banana pieces on toothpicks in the mixture and put them on wax paper. Just make sure you completely cover the banana so it doesn't turn brown. When I was done dipping bananas I dumped a bunch of walnuts in the bowl, mixed it up and dumped it on the wax paper for me to eat later ;)

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Trial Run

I got a crazy idea today to start a blog where you and I could share the little tidbits of information that all of us ladies keep stored in the many corners of our brain.
One of my big flaws is that when an idea randomly pops into my head I can't focus on anything I'm really supposed to be doing. I start brainstorming all the possibilities, get all excited and don't stop until I have something in tangible form. Sometimes this is a good thing and sometimes it gets me into trouble because I don't always think things through. Thank goodness I have a wonderful husband who keeps me grounded and asks all those important questions. Like the day I got the idea to rip out the built in desk in my office so I could rotate it to a different wall. The thought came to me that it would be so nice to face the double doors instead of the window in my office. In theory a great zen idea that I stumbled across but in reality a built in desk isn't a piece of furniture, you can't just move and reattach it without major damage.
So anyways - here goes... I would consider this to be a great project if we all walk away with odds and ends of useful knowledge that help us to increase our enjoyment on this journey we call life. And who knows, maybe we'll develop some great relationships along the way? I would consider it to be a flop that we should just walk away from if it sucks too much precious time out of our already busy lives.

If you'd like to be a contributor (I hope you do) please email me and I'll add your name, I don't want this to be my thing, I want this to be our thing as a collective group. I was sitting here today realizing how much I learn from the ladies that I'm blessed to have in my life. We are all so unique and have so many different talents and qualities to offer. Please don't be shy and think you don't have anything to offer the group because you have plenty to offer and we want to hear all about it!

When posting please use labels according to the categories that have already been used or add new ones as needed. Hopefully this will help us keep things organized so we can find what we're interested in reading about.
As far as topics please share anything you feel would benefit others. Maybe it's an uplifting quote or scripture for the day, or maybe it's something you have that you'd like to donate or something you need that someone else may have lying around their garage? Maybe it's a great recipe that you made for dinner and your family loved? Maybe you've seen great progress with a particular workout or new eating habit? Maybe it's a great tip on budgeting or keeping our heads above water in this crazy economic climate? Maybe it's a great visiting teaching handout or way to organize your food storage? Maybe you have great ideas on cheap date nights or inexpensive family day trips? Maybe you know of a great scripture studying tool or found a cool new website to help put that last minute primary talk together at 10pm on Sunday night? The topics are endless - are you getting the idea here???

I'm hoping to see lots of contributions from all of us here and there. NO pressure to post constantly, just whenever you have a moment to share something that might lighten someones load. I'm counting on ALL of us to share things that we can use to enrich our lives spiritually and temporally :D

P.S. If you're a guy related to one of the ladies on this list and you're reading this feeling a little left out right now, feel free to share your idea. (It better be amazing though! j/k)